Yuletide Match - Margaret Westhaven

No Place for a Lady

Caroline Percival was born and raised a lady--but family financial disaster forced her to take the unsuitable position of governess in the hellish household of the odious Brangley clan, and the coming of Christmas made her position especially impossible. Even this low rung on the social ladder was threatened by the amorous intent of the lascivious Lord Marchton. Caroline was willing to pay the price to repel this offensive rogue--but his half brother, Mr. Guy Constant, posed a far greater danger to her defiant pride. Where Marchton used his title and brute strength, Constant used wealth, good looks, and charm. And while Marchton had the power to make her lose her post, Guy Constant had the presence to make her lose her head and her heart...

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Although of good birth, our heroine Miss Caroline Percival has been forced to work for her living after her father died and left her penniless. At the start of the book, she works as a governess and suffers the advances of Lord Marchton a visitor of the Brangleys whom she works for. In true regency novel fashion, she is of course blamed by Mrs Brangley for the incident and is fired. That was an inauspicious beginning for me as I really don’t like the martyr heroine type. However the book rapidly improved after this with a change of plot and setting. Our heroine goes to Bath to stay with her mother while looking for work. There she meets by accident Mr Guy Constant who happens to be the guardian of a little girl, Harriet, who was staying with the Brangleys, and to whom Caroline was genuinely attached. Mr Constant also happens to be the odious Lord Marchton’s elder half-brother. Seeing her in Bath after the incident with his brother, Mr Constant assumes she is after all a lady of loose morals, following him to Bath to extract money from him, in return for her silence about Marchton’s behaviour. So their first meeting in Bath does not go well. However he soon finds out that Caroline is in Bath to stay with her mother, and realises he accused her unjustly.

With the initial misunderstanding resolved quite quickly, Guy and Caroline’s relationship progresses and blossoms without further mishaps. I quite liked the fact that there were no contrived obstacles, misunderstandings and difficulties. So there is no much drama and emotional upheavals in this book. Guy and Caroline get to know each other better in Bath, and are both involved in taking care of little Harriet, who is an engaging little girl, not at all spoilt or annoying (another plus of this book).

All in all a very enjoyable read, with very likeable characters, light, refreshing and sweet. But if you want lots of drama, tormented characters, anguish and pain, then maybe the book is not for you. Otherwise, I heartily recommend it.

Grade 3.5/5

DANCING WITH CLARA - MARY BALOGH

A Lady Without Illusions

Miss Clara Danford had no illusions about Frederick Sullivan. She knew that this magnificently handsome gentleman was a rake whose women were legion and whose gambling debts were staggering. She also knew why he wished to wed her. It was not for the beauty and grace she did not have, but for her fortune, which would rescue the dazzling wastrel from ruin. Should she refuse and lose her one chance to have such a splendid mate? Or should she accept a proposal made with lips that lied as skillfully as they kissed? One thing was sure. Clara might have no illusions to lose--but she would have to be careful not to lose her heart.

I have to begin by saying that I really love this book, it still amazes me, after having read it a few times, that from such poor premises – Poor Little Plain Cripple Rich Girl meets Best Rogue in Town Prince Charming, they get Married, and Every Problem / Character Flaw is solved and they live Happily Ever After. I honestly didn't believe a book like that could work, and I only read it because it was written by Mary Balogh and because the heroine was crippled – something not so often encountered in romances.
But hey, this time I was proved wrong! The heroine did NOT inspire pity and the hero did not abandon his rakish ways after spending 5 minutes in the heroine's sainted company.

So, the heroine, Clara, is a girl who spends all her time in a wheeled chair because of a grave illness that left her with very little power in her legs. The lack of knowledge at the time about this type of affliction caused an aggravation of the problem, and she is presently incapable to walk. On top of it, she doesn't boast of the best of looks, she's very pale and ill looking. Not a beauty. But lucky for her, she has money. So, when the very beautiful rake of a hero comes her way, she takes the opportunity and accepts his proposal of marriage. She knows he has not even warm feelings for her, he is a gamester, a drunkard now and then, he is even lying in her face when proposing, there is nothing to recommend him except for his looks. But this is exactly why she wants him, she wants a little beauty in her life, she is conscious of her needs as a woman and intends to act upon them by marrying this handsome man. That's something I really liked in the heroine - she treats all this like a fair trade: she gives the money he needs for his debts and she receives a little of his time and company.

The hero is not quite such a blackguard as we are let to believe. I could not see him as a villain even in “Courting Julia”, but it's true that he does not behave in a gentlemanly way, he sort of knows it, and he's ashamed of it. I think this is the central drama of the book, and the story is more about him, than about the heroine (despite the title). He was once just a careless youth who started living a little too wild, started having many debts, and tried to solve his problems by doing something he should not have (can't write about it, it would be a spoiler for “Courting Julia”). And now, because he is basically decent at heart, he suffers for it, thinks of himself as a villain, and keeps living in a wild way. So I see the story as the classical plot – Redemption of the Rake, but done in a very nice, believable way. Freddie is in a deep pit, and the process of redemption is quite slow, and evolves in a credible way. He does not abandon his ways at first sight of the heroine, and not even after they get married, he keeps drinking, playing cards and he is even an adulterer (which by the way, seems to be quite a taboo in romances, and I don't why since extra conjugal sexual relationships were in full bloom in that period!). But he does get better eventually, and to witness it step by step is truly a nice reading experience.

Grade: 4.5/5

Black Sheep - Georgette Heyer

And what better way to open this new blog than to start with a review by Georgette Heyer? One of the most beloved authors of traditional regencies and considered the creator of the genre.

Abigail Wendover, on the shelf at 28, is kept busy when her niece falls head over heels in love with a handsome fortune hunter and Abbie is forced into a confrontation with his scandalous uncle.

Miles Calverleigh is the black sheep of his family- enormously rich from a long sojourn in India, disconcertingly blunt and brash. But he turns out to be Abbie's most important ally in keeping her niece out of trouble.

But how can he possibly be considered eligible when she has worked so hard to rebuff his own nephew's suit for her niece? And how can she possibly detach from an ailing sister who needs her? This is a heroine who has to be, literally, swept off her feet ...

I found it a very enjoyable and interesting read. The characters are all very well defined - Abby who is on the shelf but deep down wouldn't mind falling in love, her sister always complaining from this or that health problem to have everyone's attention, her niece who is suffering from a youthful infatuation for a gentleman she is the only one to believe is not after her money and the Miles Calverley, the black sheep of his family, newly returned from India and really not interested in following society's rules.

I think she made the characters come alive and Miles and Abby's dialogues are just funny, interesting and sometimes insightful on human bahaviour. Despite his schocking honesty and outrageous behaviour and style Abby is very attrated to Miles from the beginning. She does fight that attraction because she has to take care of her niece and be a companion to her sister, not to mention the past history between the two families. It goes to the point that Miles has to become a man of action and take matters in his own hands. Delightful reading really!

Grade: 4.5/5